By The American Society of Plastic Surgeons Research and Scientific Affairs
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) and The Plastic Surgery Foundation (The PSF) Registry Program was established in 2002 when it became clear that medical practice, patient care, and technology advancement would be driven by data. Since then, the program has grown substantially, and much of the data has been cited in peer-reviewed publications as well as national quality efforts such as venous thromboembolism (VTE) awareness, and may help answer some lingering questions about breast cancer risk.
These registries collect important real-world clinical experience on new procedures or study the performance of devices. Through our registries, we provide members with the tools to collect important procedural and outcome data for real-time quality improvements as well as clinical information that drives research and development. The ASPS/PSF registry program focuses on developing high-impact registries—where, through participation, a member can quickly assess the outcomes in their practice.
Our current clinical registries include the Tracking Operations and Outcomes for Plastic Surgeons (TOPS) Registry, General Registry of Autologous Fat Transfer (GRAFT), and the Patient Registry and Outcomes for Breast Implants and Anaplastic Large Cell Lymphoma (ALCL) Etiology and Epidemiology (PROFILE) Registry. Database development is also underway for the National Breast Implant Registry (NBIR).
The TOPS Registry is a quality improvement program that has emerged as the premier national registry specific to plastic and reconstructive surgery. To date, TOPS has collected data from more than 1,500 plastic surgeons on more than 1.3 million plastic surgery procedures. Plastic surgeons can voluntarily enter surgical, procedural, and 30-day outcomes information and track patients over time. The TOPS Registry is designed to provide plastic surgeons with valid clinical and practice information, along with improving the quality of patient care. TOPS positions ASPS members to be leaders in evaluating clinical risk, setting standards, and monitoring outcomes.
GRAFT is a nationwide registry, currently collecting data on fat grafting to breast procedures. GRAFT’s goal is to establish the safety and efficacy of fat grafting procedures, performed for reconstructive or aesthetic purposes. Data from GRAFT will be used to assess the safety of fat grafting procedures. GRAFT currently has 14 core sites that are participating toward a goal of 1,000 patients in a pilot phase. GRAFT will be launching broadly to the ASPS membership to capture fat grafting procedures to all areas of the body starting in October 2015.
Our PROFILE Registry was established as a collaboration between ASPS, The PSF, and the FDA to examine if there is an association between women with breast implants and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). Since its inception in 2011, more than 70 cases have been reported to the PROFILE Registry.
The NBIR is a collaboration between the FDA, The PSF, and breast implant manufacturers. It is designed to provide coordinated national surveillance for breast implant devices, which will serve the purpose of collecting clinically meaningful safety information, the timing of which is aligned with clinically relevant events occurring among the breast implant patient population. Data collection is expected to begin broadly to ASPS Membership in early 2016.
With the data collected by our registries, ASPS and The PSF can support research and quality improvement that will best equip our members with the knowledge they need in their practice and, more importantly, improve the quality of patient care and safety our members provide.
To learn more or submit cases to TOPS, go to https://tops.plasticsurgery.org/. For information on all ASPS clinical registries, visit www.thepsf.org.
The American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS) is the largest plastic surgery specialty organization in the world. ASPS works in concert with The Plastic Surgery Foundation (The PSF) to improve the quality of patient care through research and development.
